I'm back...from a week spent in Atlanta...long trip report!

[billb]

Thanks Rory for your PM. Unfortunately, I didn't get it until I returned home last night, but your suggestions sounded fantastic. We unfortunately did not make it to any of the locations you suggested, so we'll have to go again soon!

Trip summary: 955 miles round trip, from Apex to Hendersonville to Atlanta last weekend, then Atlanta to Spartanburg ( ) to Apex yesterday. Overall mileage 27.4 mpg, average speed (from start to finish 48.1 mph). Last tank mileage was 29.0. I am NOT running the EAT chip at this time, but I expect mileage would have been a tad better with that.

The car performed flawlessly the entire time (I did notice the speedo needle hiccuped briefly last night at around 73 mph, first time I've ever seen it do that). The only repair I had to do was purchase some electrical tape to secure the windshield trim to the windshield. If I got behind a truck at anything more than 70 mph, the turbulence would buffett the strip, sounding like it was going to fly off the car.

On our trip out, we visited friends in Hendersonville. Got in some mountain biking in Dupont Forest last Saturday. Sunday noon we hit the road for Atlanta from Hendersonville. At Braselton, GA, we visited Chateau Elan for a winery tour and tasting (very nice facility, the Panoz family has done very well for themselves!). We arrived at our hotel in Midtown to notice it situated very nicely beside an adult video store. Great. It turned out to be quite funny, seeing who was "coming and going" from the lot!

Dining out for the week, our restaurant selections were:
ESPN Zone, Buckhead, Sunday night
Tin Drum, Georgia Tech, Monday night
Wolfgang Puck Express, off Peachtree, Tuesday night
Prime, at Lenox Square, Wednesday night (great wood-fired salmon!)
Tavern at Phipps, Thursday night (very nice scenery inside ), great spinach chips
Krystal Burger, on the road, Friday night

Knowing that we would be passing through Spartanburg, I arranged for a plant tour at the BMW Plant (CCA membership saved me $1.50). I had just spent a week in a machine guarding course in Atlanta, so I needed to put my training to the test (that's what I'm going to tell the boss, anyway). If you haven't been, go tour that plant. It is phenomenal. JIT manufacturing with about 4 hours of components available on the floor at a time. The whole experience made me want to purchase a Z4 on the spot.

We left Atlanta around 11 am, and arrived home around 9:15 pm, due to some stops along the way. I can honestly say, I feel not one bit of soreness from the approximately 425 miles I drove yesterday. A testament to the great seats and driving position in the E34.

Attached is a picture of the little one at Zentrum. He couldn't go on the plant tour (over an hour), so he and the wife played around all the cars and motorcycles. He received a brand new Z8 for his good behavior .

A great, work-related, vacation, and Ginger lived to fight another day!